[DoE] Historical Context: God and Country

Day 2,786, 20:09 • Published in USA USA • by Department of Citizen Affairs


HISTORICAL CONTEXT: GOD AND COUNTRY

Greetings!

Things are moving fast with the new month and in the interest of keeping all in the know of things, we at the Department of Education present this article to give some of the background to the current military action now afoot.




Spain as a Natural Enemy

With a discussion in Congress came a Proposal to make Spain our Natural Enemy. While many wars in recent times have been engaged in for economic and political regions, what many of our citizenry may not realize is that the casus belli for this engagement is religious.

What may surprise many younger players is that there is even a religious presence in the eUnited States at all. The concept of eReligion is an interesting one, as is our country’s involvement with it. As part of a series of historical articles the DoE will be publishing, we will thus tend to first the matter of our country’s national religion, Dioism, and its involvement in this recent war.




Roleplaying, the Meta, and eReligion

Part of what makes eRepublik enjoyable for many is the chance to step outside the bounds of their normal day-to-day. Citizens craft careful personas around their avatars and forum presences, and roleplay aspects of real life in the context of the game itself. This has led to some parties reflecting real life counterparts, and some military units donning the colors of actual real world armies.


Logo of Easy Company, who took the likeness from the real life Airborne company.

The constructed roleplaying is often referred to by players as “the meta,” that which happens outside of the mechanical button pressing of the game itself. IRC, the eusaforums, and party dogma are all part of the meta, as is eReligion.

There have been many eReligions in the course of the game’s history. Oftentimes, these religious movements have mirrored real life examples. By far the most prolific eReligion has been Dioism.



The Roots of Faith

Dioism’s roots can be traced back to the earliest times of the game. In what was the game’s first empire, the Holy Empire of Pakistan, as led by its Country President Dio Brando, sought to combine roleplaying aspects and religious elements to codify an approach to playing the game. The outcome was called Dioism so named after Dio Brando.


Player avatar of God Emperor Dio Brando.

Dioism’s tenants were in keeping with the idea that this was a game, and should be enjoyed as such. Revering sand as a holy substance and snow as a sinful thing, the Archons and followers of Dio wrote the history of their religion and incorporated it into all facets of Pakistani culture mainly through the Book of Dio.

As Dioism quickly spread and the Holy Empire of Pakistan grew in power, there were naturally some who opposed their dominance. Countries possessing of snow such as Sweden and Canada were seen as barren lands of evil in the eyes of Dioism, and many other European countries such as Spain were deemed heretical.


An example of Dioist propaganda.

The Book of Dio often purveyed the ideas of conflict through parables such as the following:

Only one road exists to exaltation and it was on this road a poor and homeless man resided. He too was on the path to exaltation and was in need of support. On this path many people passed on their way to exaltation. Traders, workers, soldiers. Men of all classes and cultures passed this road.

As the first man passed, the poor man asked for support. The man was a Spaniard. The Spanish man offered support, but only to let him fall once he had support. That... that... DOUBLE-SPANIARD. He then went his way, laughing and scoffing at the poor man as he continued down the path.

As the second man passed, the poor man asked for support. The man was a Swede. The Swedish man kicked the poor man and beat him with a stick. He told the poor man to crawl into a crevasse and rot away to die. Then the Swedish continued down the path.
As the third man passed, the poor man asked for support. The man was an Indonesian. The Indonesian man offered support, but he could only take a short amount of the path, as he was not strong enough.

A fourth man passed, and the poor man asked for support. This man was a Pakistani. The Pakistani offered the man support. First he washed the poor man's feet, he fed the poor man and gave him water, he offered the poor man a home and shelter and he carried the poor man up until the gates of exaltation.



Exodus and Emergence
As the power of Pakistan waned with time and war and the game’s first empire passed into history, its adherents continued to spread throughout the world. One of the greatest exoduses was to the eUnited States. There, the group S.E.E.S. kept the faith alive along with the vision of Dioism as a whole.


The S.E.E.S. party image.

Upon former Country President Emerick’s first “death” on April 18th of 2010, current President Woxan decreed in a touching testament to his good friend’s passing that America would forever be “a Dioist nation.” To



Dioism Today
While Dioism has fallen in and out of fashion at various points since Woxan’s proclamation 5 years ago, there has still remained a strong playerbase in our country which has stuck staunchly to Dioism’s ideals. Outside of war and political conflict, Dioism has often been a source of happiness and union, such as in the case of the wedding of former Country President Trekker and BeachBunny.

Dioism’s impact upon the culture of America can also be seen in its vernacular. Many older players still refer to the eUnited States as “Emericka”. Terms such as “Double-Spaniard” and “Illiswine” are still relatively common insults against the Spanish and Swedish respectively.

In current times, many in President Tyler Bubblar’s administration and in the current session of Congress have not forgotten the part the Spanish played in last year’s invasion of our country, and believe that while Poland and Serbia have properly atoned for their part, Spain has not. It is thus with rallying cries of Dioist ideals that the current session of Congress has overwhelming voted to go to war with Spain.



That ‘s enough history for today, folks. We hope this article properly put into light recent foreign affairs actions taken by our country and provided a lovely stroll down memory lane for those of you old enough to remember. Stay tuned for more historical happenings in the coming month!

Sincerely,
Department of Education






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